Komarr

'Too bad they weren't tempted to keep it.'

'Mm, they clearly realized it was traceable. Hence their little joke.' He frowned. 'But . . . why my data case?'

'They might have been looking for something about Radovas. What all was in your data case, my lord?'

'Copies of all the classified technical reports and autopsies from the soletta accident. Soudha's an engineer. He doubtless had a very good idea what was in there.'

'We're going to have an interesting time later this morning at the Terraforming Project offices,' said Tuomonen glumly, 'trying to figure out which employees are absent because they fled, and which ones are absent because they are fictional. I need to get over there as soon as possible, to supervise the preliminary interrogations. We'll have to fast-penta them all, I suppose.'

'I predict it will be a great waste of time and drugs,' agreed Miles. 'But there's always the chance of someone knowing more than they think they know.'

'Mm, yes.' Tuomonen glanced at the listening woman. 'Speaking of which—Madame Vorsoisson—I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to cooperate with a fast-penta interrogation as well. It's standard operating procedure, in a mysterious death of this nature, to question the closest relatives. The Dome police may also be wanting in on it, or at least demand a copy, depending on what decisions are made about jurisdiction by my superiors.'

'I understand,' said Madame Vorsoisson, in a colorless voice.

'There was nothing mysterious about Administrator Vorsoisson's death,' Miles pointed out uneasily. 'I was standing right next to him.' Well, kneeling, technically.

'She's not a suspect,' Tuomonen said. 'A witness.'

And a fast-penta interrogation would help to keep it that way, Miles realized with reluctance.

'When do you wish to do this, Captain?' Madame Vorsoisson asked quietly.

'Well . . . not immediately. I'll have a better set of questions after this morning's investigations are complete. Just don't go anywhere.'

Her glance at him silently inquired, Am I under house arrest? 'At some point, I have to go get my son Nikolai. He was staying overnight at a friend's home. He hasn't been told anything about this yet. I don't want to tell him over the comconsole, and I don't want him to hear it first on the news.'

'That won't happen,' said Tuomonen grimly. 'Not yet, anyway. Though I expect I'll have the information services badgering us soon enough. Someone is bound to notice that the most boring ImpSec post on Komarr is suddenly boiling with activity.'

'I must either go get him, or call and arrange for him to stay longer.'

'Which would you prefer?' Miles put in before Tuomonen could say anything.

'I … if you are going to do the interrogation here, today, I'd rather wait till it's over with to get Nikki. I'll have to explain to his friend's mother something of the situation, at least that Tien was . . . killed in an accident last night.'

'Have you bugged her comconsoles?' Miles asked Tuomonen bluntly.

Tuomonen's look queried this revelation, but he cleared his throat, and said, 'Yes. You should be aware, Madame Vorsoisson, that ImpSec will be monitoring all calls in and out of here for a few days.'

She looked blankly at him. 'Why?'

'There is the possibility that someone, either from Soudha's group or some other connection we haven't yet discovered, not yet realizing the Administrator is dead, might try to communicate.'

She accepted this with a slightly dubious nod. 'Thank you for warning me.'

'Speaking of calls,' Miles added, 'please have one of your people bring me a secured vid-link here. I have a few calls to make myself.'

'Will you be staying here, my lord?' asked Tuomonen.

'For a while. Till after your interrogation, and until Lord Auditor Vorthys gets downside, as he will surely wish to do. That's the first call I want to make.'

'Ah. Of course.'

Miles looked around. His seizure stimulator, its case, and his mouthguard were still lying where they'd been dropped a few hours ago. Miles pointed. 'And if you please, could you have your lab check my medical gear for any sign of tampering, then return it to me.'

Tuomonen's brows rose. 'Do you suspect it, my lord?'

'It was just a horrible thought. But I think it's going to be a very bad idea to underestimate either the intelligence or the subtlety of our adversaries in this thing, eh?'

'Do you need it urgently?'

'No.' Not anymore.

'The data packet Foscol left on Administrator Vorsoisson's person—have you had a chance to look at it?' Miles went on. He managed to avoid glancing at Madame Vorsoisson.

'Just a quick scan,' said Tuomonen. He did look at Madame Vorsoisson, and away, spoiling Miles's effort at delicacy. Her lips thinned only a little. 'I turned it over to the ImpSec financial analyst—a colonel, no less—that HQ sent out to take charge of the financial part of the investigation.'

'Oh, good. I was going to ask if HQ had sent you relief troops yet.'

'Yes, everything you requested. The engineering team arrived on site at the experiment station about an hour ago. The packet Foscol left seems to be documentation of all the financial transactions relating to the, um, payments made by Soudha's group to the Administrator. If it's not all lies, it's going to be an amazing help in sorting out the whole embezzlement part of the mess. Which is really very odd, when you think about it.'

'Foscol clearly had no love for Vorsoisson, but surely everything that incriminates him, incriminates the Komarrans equally. Quite odd, yes.' If only his brain hadn't been turned to pulsing oatmeal, Miles felt, he could follow out some line of logic from this. Later.

An ImpSec tech wearing black fatigues emerged from the back of the apartment. He carried a black box identical to– in fact, possibly the same as—the one which Tuomonen had used at Madame Radovas's, and said to his superior, 'I've finished all the comconsoles, sir.'

'Thank you, Corporal. Go back to the office and transfer copies to our files, to HQ Solstice, and to Colonel Gibbs.'

The tech nodded and trod out through the, Miles noticed, still-ruined door.

'And, oh yes, would you please detail a tech to repair Madame Vorsoisson's front door,' Miles added to Tuomonen. 'Possibly he could install a somewhat better-quality locking system while he's about it.' She shot him a quietly grateful look.

'Yes, my lord. I will of course keep a guard on duty while you are here.'

A duenna of sorts, Miles supposed. He must try to get Madame Vorsoisson something rather better. Suspecting he'd loaded poor sleepless Tuomonen with enough chores and orders for one session, Miles requested only that he be notified at once if ImpSec caught up with Soudha or any member of his group, and let the captain go off to his suddenly multiplied duties.

By the time he'd showered and dressed in his last good gray suit, the painkillers had achieved their full effect, and Miles felt almost human. When he emerged, Madame Vorsoisson invited him to her kitchen; Tuomonen's door guard stayed in the living room.

'Would you care for some breakfast, Lord Vorkosigan?'

'Have you eaten?'

'Well, no. I'm not really hungry.'

Likely not, but she looked as pale and washed-out as he felt. Tactically inspired, he said, 'I'll have something if you will. Something bland,' he added prudently.

'Groats?' she suggested diffidently.

'Oh, yes please.' He wanted to say, I can get them— mixing up a packet of instant groats was well within his ImpSec survival-trained capabilities, he could have assured her—but he didn't want to risk her going away, so he sat, an obedient guest, and watched her move about. She seemed uneasy, in what should have been this core place of her domain. Where would she fit? Someplace much larger.